Title: Today's Headlines (After the Flaw: Oligarchy, Chapter 28)
Author: kanedax
Spoilers: Previous Chapters
Rating: PG
Summary: The news spreads...
Notes: This chapter ended up being a lot shorter than originally intended, but anything else that was going to be said will be said down the line.
I own these characters. The others belong to JK Rowling.


Standing Offers / Previous Chapters / Mama Said


Bomb Rattles Ministry's Cage
Few minor injuries as explosion rocks HQ's lower levels


The Ministry of Magic received yet another blow Saturday as an explosion shook their main headquarters in London.

The detonation, which occurred on Level Ten, caused extensive damage to the Ministry's courtrooms. However, as the courtrooms were unoccupied at the time of the incident, there were no fatalities and few injuries.

"Most of the injuries were nothing more than episkey level," stated Seamus Finnigan, acting Head of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement. "Scrapes and scratches from falling furniture or lightheadedness from smoke and dust inhalation."

Despite the near miss, the explosion shook more than the Ministry's offices: the Ministry's morale, already trembling from numerous blows dealt within the last twenty-four hours, now understands that they aren't even safe within their own home.

Following the Puddlemere Quidditch bombing, which left forty-three dead, including Minister Kingsley Shacklebolt and Undersecretary Percy Weasley, and the typhon attack on London with a death toll estimated in the thousands, new Minister of Magic Hermione Weasley and the rest of the Ministry are left scrambling for answers.

Said Finnigan: "We're using every available outlet to find those responsible not only for the attack on the Ministry, but for the attacks on London and Puddlemere as well."

However, when asked for more information on suspects, or for more information on the so-called Oligarchy, who invaded the minds of millions around the world in the time between the two attacks, Finnigan had no comment.

But are all of the attacks, or any of the attacks, related to the Oligarchy?

"I can't make any comment on that," said Finnigan. "Of course, you're going to draw your own conclusions."

Meanwhile, Minister Weasley (cont. p.2)


Elsewhere:

- "A new beginning," claims Egyptian junta (p.2)
- Federation meets to discuss options (p.2)
- Dozens arrested following anti-Muggle attacks (p.3)
- US Secretary: Oligarchy threats will not stand (p.4)
- Who are the Oligarchy? Criminal theorists speak (p.5)
- Wizards fight Fiendfyre in Moscow, Vancouver, Rio (p.6)
- The Muggle reaction (p.6-8)
- Ten things you can do to protect your family (p.9)

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THE SAFEGUARD
America's #1 Independent Political Blog

Posted January 5th, 2020, 3:23 PM EST


What a day!

In what is quickly turning into the most important day in our lifetimes, I'm doing everything in my power to keep you up-to-date on what MATTERS. With the government quickly cracking down, with mainstraem media dealing LIES and MISINFORMATION to a world thirsty for knowledge, you can turn to us here at THE SAFEGUARD to give you only the most acurate information!

We're in a unique situation. Never before has a news story crossed so many borders. Literally every state in the US of A, every country on every continent in the world has a story unlike anything we've ever seen before.

Here's the latest update. Its only a fraction of what's out tehre, but its what the CREME of the CROP:

NYC: Riots kill 5, injure 100
Cairo: Just the beginning, says new regime
Oslo: Is Norway next to fall?
Vegas: Street magician lynched
SF: Religious extremists, athiests clash
Uncontrollable blazes in Russia, Canada, Brazil demoralize firemen
Kenya: After power outage, electronic failures, citizens forget visions
On scene in London: Many witnesses of creature suffer sudden amnesia
Vatican: Jesus wasn't a wizard
President-Elect in DC: Current administration lied, will be held accountable
Dublin: Wave of wizard attacks leave three dead, twenty injured, ten "changed"
Jerusalem: Ancient mosque torched
Sydney: Unusual injuries flood hospitals
Paris: "God is a Lie!" man yells before jumping from church steeple

Terrifying, to be sure. But the question still needs to be answered: What are wizards? Who are the Oligarchy? Why have they been hidden from us for so long? And, most horrifying of all, have they struck before?

This link, from the Caithness Dispatch, an independent neswpaper in Scotland, may have answers:

EXCLUSIVE! A WIZARD SPEAKS TO THE DISPATCH!

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EXCLUSIVE! A WIZARD SPEAKS TO THE DISPATCH!

Wizards have been among us for centuries. And the attack on London on January 4th is not the first time that they have hurt us.

So claims a man from Thurso. In a phone interview with the Dispatch, and under anonymity for the safety of himself and his family, he claims to have been born a wizard, only to have escaped from their society over twenty years ago.

While many of his claims have been unconfirmed, we at the Dispatch have found enough evidence to support the man's claims. Here, for the first time, a former wizard (hereby referred to as John) speaks to the world about his experiences and what we should expect following the horrors in London and around the globe:


Dispatch: Thank you for speaking to us, John.

John: Thank you for listening to my story.

Dispatch: You claim to be a wizard?

John: A former wizard, yes. I gave up that life years ago.

Dispatch: And how did you become a wizard? Who taught you?

John: I wasn't taught, specifically. I was born a wizard, my brother and I both. It's genetic.

Dispatch: Your parents were both wizards?

John: No, they were Muggles.

Dispatch: Muggles?

John: It's a term the wizarding community uses for non-magical humans. If you're not a witch or a wizard, then you're a Muggle.

Dispatch: So you were born to, um, Muggle parents, but raised as a wizard?

John: No, I was raised as a Muggle. My brother and I both were. But when we turned eleven, they came for us.

Dispatch: They?

John: The wizards. There are schools, you see. They bring young wizards and witches there after their powers have manifested. They teach them how to control and harness their abilities.

Dispatch: Sounds like a bit of science fiction.

John: I can guarantee you that it's so far from that. As we all saw yesterday, their powers are very real and very dangerous.

Dispatch: So you were taught at this school?

John: For three years, yes.

Dispatch: And after that?

John: My fourth year my family and I were on the run from dark wizards. Because we were born Muggles, we were forbidden from returning to Hogwarts.

Dispatch: Hogwarts is the school?

John: That's right.

Dispatch: Why were you forbidden?

John: This is one of the things I can't stress enough, and it's the reason why I have to speak out today. Wizarding wars have been fought behind our backs for decades. One that had been fought through most of the middle of the 20th century broke out again in the late 90's. The evil wizards, if they can be called that, took over for a while and put a bounty out on all Muggle-born wizards.

Dispatch: Why would they do that?

John: Blood purity. They consider Muggles to be unclean. If a wizard marries a Muggle, that pollutes the gene pool. If two Muggles have a wizard for a child, then they must have done something illegal to have it happen.

Dispatch: So Muggles can't use magic?

John: I suppose they can. I mean, they can use magical objects, but they can't cast any spells. Anyway, after the evil wizards, the Death Eaters, took over, most Muggle-born wizards and their families went into hiding. Many were killed.

Dispatch: And this all happened without us knowing?

John: Well, they hide it well. Even if a Muggle sees something magic, wizards have the power to erase and adjust memories. Or adjust histories. They're very deeply ingrained in our government, and can cover up most anything, even Muggle deaths.

Dispatch: They've killed Muggles in the past?

John: Hang on, I have a list that I wrote off the top of my head, just from what I learned during my years with them. Here we are: November 1st, 1981, twelve Muggles are killed in an explosion in London. Government claims it was a gas explosion, but that's what the Ministry told them to say. The wizard who they arrested for that crime, Sirius Black, escaped from prison in 1993, but the Muggle government pretends he's a simple serial killer, knowing full well that he could have murdered hundreds with a mere thought.

July 1996, that was a big month: The Brockdale Bridge collapse, dozens of Muggles killed--

Dispatch: Faulty gusset plates, was it?

John: Something like that. That was the explanation, at least. But it was wizard retalliation.

Dispatch: For what?

John: For something other wizards did. Muggles were merely caught in the crossfire.

Dispatch: Good Lord...

John: Later that month, a so-called hurricane blows through Somerset. When's the last time a hurricane hit England?

Dispatch: Not in my lifetime...

John: Nor in mine. It was just the cover that was placed on the story.

Dispatch: What actually happened?

John: Giants.

Dispatch: Giants? Like huge men?

John: Like the giants from Jack and the Beanstalk. It's be hard to believe, I know, but after seeing what tore through London yesterday it's a lot easier to accept, isn't it?

Dispatch: So the... the giants. They exist.

John: Yes.

Dispatch: As does the... thing that attacked London.

John: Yes.

Dispatch: Do they have any more of them?

John: Of what attacked London, I couldn't say. But there are many many more supernatural creatures than they'd lead you to believe.

Dispatch: Such as?

John: In my years at Hogwarts I saw gryffins, dragons, giant spiders, unicorns, fairies--

Dispatch: Wait, go back... dragons?

John: Scary, isn't it?

Dispatch: I have a hard time believing--

John: Well, that's the point, isn't it? That's what they want us all to believe. But these Oligarchy folks, they've opened the real world up to everyone. They can't hide anymore. We can actually fight back!

Dispatch: Fight back?

John: The things they've done to us over the years... Not just the examples that I listed, but back further. They were fighting a war at the same time that we were fighting in World War II. It's common knowledge that many of the deaths in the 1940's were the result of Muggles being where they didn't belong. Same with The Great War, the French Revolution...

Dispatch: So you and your brother escaped these wizards? Why? With all the power you had in your hand, why run away?

John: Because they were dangerous. All of them. Those that called themselves Death Eaters as well as those who called themselves the protectors of Muggles. You see, we didn't escape. I did. My brother was killed.

Dispatch: I'm sorry...

John: It was twenty years ago. He was only sixteen, and he died in one of the many battles that had broken out during that time. I know I can't prove it to you. Even if I gave you his name, the government record of his death says traffic accident. It's a lot easier to explain to Muggles than "Death by Killing Curse."

Dispatch: Killing Curse?

John: Oh, they have spells that can kill instantly. They have spells that can cause you to become a living puppet to the caster. They have spells that cause pain beyond anything you've ever felt. They call them the Unforgivable Curses. In theory, just using them can give you a life sentence in prison, but they seemed to be used a lot by both sides without any punishment when I was there. They're dangerous people, the whole lot of them. They trained us from an early age to fight. I learned the Unforgivable Curses young. When I was eleven I learned how to disarm opponents, to knock them unconscious, to petrify them. That shield spell that they used yesterday, the one that the jet crashed into in mid-air? I learned that one when I was twelve.

Dispatch: Then why now? If they were so dangerous, why wait this long to come out, John?

John: Because I was scared. Scared for my family, scared for myself. I changed my name after I broke my wand and went Muggle and moved as far away from them as possible. But it wasn't enough. They found me in the end. I was forced to keep quiet when they threatened my daughter.

Dispatch: They threatened your family with harm?

John: My daughter was born a witch. I hoped she wouldn't be, but she was. And it's not something that can be controlled, the magic. You can't stop being one of them, especially at her age. When her powers manifested, our house burned down. She's with them now, at Hogwarts, and they threatened me with imprisonment and memory modification if I try to get her back.

Dispatch: That's horrible...

John: But I couldn't hold it in any longer. Not after Tower Bridge. Not after the Spire. They need to be stopped. They need to be put in their place. I'm willing to do whatever it takes to get them out of our lives once and for all, and I'm willing to do whatever it takes to keep my daughter safe.

Dispatch: Have you spoken to the government? Offered to lend your assistance?

John: What good would that do? They're in the wizards' pockets, have been for years. No, what we need is to rise up as a people and fight back. Put together our own defense, our own offense, because the government isn't going to do it for us.

Dispatch: And what would you have in mind, John?

John: Well, I know where they live...


Standing Offers / Previous Chapters / Mama Said